The picture collection of Tsarskoe Selo has a study painting of an elegant young lady holding a white lily flower in her hand. Purchased from a private collector with no provenance information in 1985, the pastel painting on paperboard has a monogram in its lower left corner and is dated “98”.

While the monogram was seen as the Russian letters “БК” which referred to none of the known Russian artists, the lady in the painting remained a stranger. However, attempts to see the monogram as composed of Latin letters finally led to its identification.

As it has been established by Larisa V. Bardovskaya, Tsarskoe Selo picture collection curator, the monogram “FAK” belongs to the German artist Friedrich August von Kaulbach (1850–1920). That made the pastel’s attribution easier.

Kaulbach’s works include an oil-on-canvas painting of circa 1893 depicting Princesses Marie, Victoria Melita, Alexandra and Beatrice, the daughters of Duke Alfred of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, the only surviving daughter of Emperor Alexander II of Russia.

The lady in the 1898 pastel appears to be Princess Marie several years later, already married to Crown Prince Ferdinand of Romania and with two children. She supposedly commissioned the portrait in the same posture, reminiscent of her youth.

Since her father was also known as the Duke of Edinburgh, she was Princess Marie of Edinburgh as well. She became the Queen consort of Romania and was one of the most romantic royal figures in the early twentieth century. Marie’s memoirs The Story of My Life describe, among other things, her times at the Russian Imperial Court and Tsarskoe Selo, where she often visited her relatives in the Alexander Palace.